U.S. patent number 5,533,851 [Application Number 08/315,908] was granted by the patent office on 1996-07-09 for hollow wall anchor.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Clairson, Inc.. Invention is credited to Lee Remmers.
United States Patent |
5,533,851 |
Remmers |
July 9, 1996 |
Hollow wall anchor
Abstract
A wall anchor for installation in a hole drilled in a wall
having a head, a barrel, and a pair of parallel fingers. The head
is attached to one end of the barrel and the pair of parallel
fingers are attached to the opposite end of the barrel wherein each
of the fingers is provided with one end pivotally attached to the
barrel and the opposite ends are free from connection whereby the
fingers can be spread apart by driving a pin therethrough. The head
and the barrel are provided with aligned circumferential bores
extending longitudinally therethrough. A flat portion is provided
along one arcuate segment of one of the bores.
Inventors: |
Remmers; Lee (Ocala, FL) |
Assignee: |
Clairson, Inc. (Newark,
DE)
|
Family
ID: |
23226593 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/315,908 |
Filed: |
September 30, 1994 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
411/344; 411/45;
411/80.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F16B
19/1081 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
F16B
19/10 (20060101); F16B 19/04 (20060101); F16B
013/06 (); F16B 021/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;411/45-48,340,344,345,346,41,57,60 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Wilson; Neill R.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Middleton & Reutlinger Lamb;
Charles G.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A wall anchor for installation in a hole drilled in a wall
comprising:
a head;
a barrel having one end attached to the head and an opposite end
attached to a pair of parallel fingers, each of said fingers having
one end pivotally attached to the barrel and having opposite ends
free from connection whereby said fingers can be spread apart by
driving a pin therethrough;
said head and said barrel having aligned circumferential bores
extending longitudinally therethrough, said at least one of said
bores of said head or said barrel having a flat portion along one
arcuate segment; and,
said head having an outer diameter greater than an outer diameter
of said barrel.
2. The wall anchor of claim 1 including a pin inserted into said
bore of said head portion.
3. The wall anchor of claim 1, said wall anchor being of unitary
construction.
4. The wall anchor of claim 1, said wall anchor being made of a
resilient plastic material.
5. The wall anchor of claim 1, said flat portion being in said bore
of said head.
6. The wall anchor of claim 1, said flat portion replacing from
7.2% to 14.5% of an arcuate segment of said bores.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to wall anchors for fastening fixtures and
other objects to a wall. More particularly, this invention relates
to a hollow barrel wall anchor having a pin holding device disposed
within the barrel of the anchor.
In walls formed of plaster boards, sheet rock, plywood and other
relatively thin or soft panel materials, problems arise when
attempting to mount objects to these walls, particularly,
transverse rods for draperies, drapes, lighting fixtures, picture
frames and other objects which impose stress upon these walls.
These walls are usually incapable of receiving the aforementioned
rods, fixtures and picture frames which are held in place by
standard screws and bolts. Thus, it has become common practice to
use anchoring sockets of some sort in order to secure these objects
to a wall. A number of wall anchors are noted in the prior art,
particularly U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,274,324; 2,555,420; 3,188,905; and
4,312,614.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,669,936 and 4,722,648 teach a back clip for
mounting a shelf to a wall comprising a clip body with a downwardly
extending hook portion to receive a shelf wire therein. These back
clips include a body portion with a hollow barrel therein and
laterally expandable fingers in alignment therewith. The fingers
extend through a wall and upon receiving a bolt or pin through the
barrel, the laterally expandable fingers expand against the inside
portion of the wall. The barrel portion is provided with a
plurality of ribs for holding the bolt or pin in place prior to
driving the bolt or pin through the barrel and expanding the
fingers for attaching the back clip to a wall.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a wall anchor
which when installed in a wall is securely held therein.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wall anchor
having a barrel portion therein of generally cylindrical shape with
a part of one arcuate segment being flat to hold a mounting bolt or
pin therein prior to mounting to a wall.
Even another object of this invention is to provide a wall anchor
which can be installed in a wall to support objects therefrom.
A further object of this invention is to provide a wall anchor made
of plastic to which a wall mounting bolt is held securely therein
during transit.
An even further object of this invention is to provide a wall
anchor made of plastic which is of unitary construction, simple in
design, and easy to produce in mass quantities.
More particularly, the present invention provides a wall anchor for
installation in a hole drilled in a wall comprising:
a head;
a barrel having one end attached to the head and an opposite end
attached to a pair of parallel fingers, each of said fingers having
one end pivotally attached to the barrel and having opposite ends
free from connection whereby said fingers can be spread apart by
driving a pin therethrough;
said head and said barrel having aligned circumferential bores
extending longitudinally therethrough, at least one of said head or
said barrel having a flat portion along one arcuate segment of one
of said bores; and,
said head having an outer diameter greater than an outer diameter
of said barrel.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear from
the following description and appended claims, reference being had
to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specification
wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts
into several views.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one preferred wall anchor of the
present invention;
FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the wall anchor of FIG. 1
including a mounting pin therein;
FIG. 3 is an end view of the wall anchor of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a side view of a wall anchor of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a top view of a wall anchor of FIG. 1; and,
FIG. 6 is a top sectional view of the wall anchor of FIG. 1 mounted
to a supporting wall.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1, and FIG. 4, a wall anchor 10 of the present
invention includes a generally flat circular head 12, a barrel 14
and a pair of flexible and resilient fingers 16a and 16b which are
joined to the barrel 14 at its back end. The head 12 is of
disc-like configuration and is of a greater outer diameter than the
outer diameters of the barrel 14 and the fingers 16a, 16b. The head
12 is further provided with a through-bore 18 therein which is in
alignment with a through-bore 22 (FIG. 6) in the barrel 14. The
through-bores 18 and 22 receive a mounting pin 26 (FIG. 2 and FIG.
6) therethrough. Cylindrical bore 18 is provided with a flat
portion 20 along one arcuate segment wherein the flat portion 20 in
cooperating relation with its opposite arcuate segment 20a (FIG. 3)
of the bore 18, grip and hold the pin 26 in place. The flat portion
20 generally replaces an arcuate segment of from about 7.2% to
about 14.5% of the bores 18 and/or 22. Furthermore, the axial
length of the flat portion is preferably about 0.500 inches in a
standard anchor having a though-bore of from 0.149 to 1.162 inches
in diameter and 0.514 inches in axial length. Holiday pin 26 in
place is particularly useful in that wall anchor 10 can be shipped
with the pin 26 already therein for mounting to a wall. As shown in
FIG. 6, wall anchor 10 can be easily installed to hold an object
30, such as an edge of a picture frame, a clip for a drapery rod,
and like thereon.
The pair of flexible and resilient fingers 16a and 16b are joined
to the barrel section 14 its back end, the upper resilient finger
16a being above or to one side of the through-bore 22 and the lower
resilient 16b being disposed below or to an opposite side of the
through-bore 22. At the connecting end between the fingers 16a and
16b and the barrel 14 are should 28a and 28b. As shown, should 28a
extends downward from the upper finger 16a from its attachment to
the barrel 14 and lower finger 16b presents a similar upward
extending shoulder 28b. Normally, as seen in FIG. 1 and
particularly in the phantom line in FIG. 1, the fingers 16a and 16b
are resilient but may be squeezed together manually before being
inserted in an opening in a wall 24 (FIG. 6), if necessary.
preferably, the opening in the wall 24 is of a size and shape such
that the barrel 14 of the wall anchor 10 has to be force fitted
therein. Preferably also, the axial length of the barrel 14 is
substantially equal to the thickness of the wall 24 into which the
wall anchor 10 is to be inserted so that when the back surface of
the head 12 is flush against an object 30 (FIG. 6), the fingers 16a
and 16b on the wall anchor 10 will assume their undeformed position
shown in FIG. 1. When the mounting pin 26 (FIG. 2 and FIG. 6) is
inserted through the through-bores 18 and 22, the pin will engage
the shoulders 28a and 26b and spread the fingers 16a and 16b apart,
as best shown in FIG. 6.
preferably wall anchor 10 is of unitary construction of a suitable
resilient plastic material, one preferred resilient plastic being
polypropylene.
It is realized that various changes may be made by those skilled in
the art and the preferred embodiment previously described without
departing from the principles and scope of the invention as
expressed in the claims appended hereto.
* * * * *